I’ve tried to be ‘good’ from the 1st January year after year. I’m going to lose weight, get fit, give up chocolate, give up alcohol, stretch daily…… In reality I last a week then I feel awful when I revert back to normality. Like a lot of people, if you tell me I can’t have something, that is ALL I want.

How to make resolutions work

Unless you have an iron willpower and nobody around you tempting you with leftover mince pies, resolutions are incredibly hard. As an alternative I’ve found that making small movements towards bettering myself daily works better than one sweeping resolution.

Getting family involved

This Christmas I spent longer at my parents than expected. The clutch on my car died 17 miles away from them. As bad things go this worked out really well: my dad came to get us, I was pointing downhill when the clutch failed and could coast safely into a parking bay off the main road. The recovery man came on Boxing Day (because he was bored) and the garage fixed it the day after. A friend fed the cats and totally understood the complex feeding instructions (one cat is fat and needs diet food and pills, the other cat is skinny but prefers the diet food so they need segregated eating plans). It cost me a shed load of money but I did get a really relaxing time with the people I love most in the whole world.

I’d planned to race back on Christmas day to sort out the cats, get the house in order after the recent massive building works and spend a few hours on Photoshop making a printout for the alternative resolutions. That wasn’t going to happen, so plan B came into action – my mum!

While dictating cooking instructions to my dad, my most excellent mother drew out each idea for us. I think it’s a whole lot nicer than anything I would have done with the computer.

How does it work?

The printout has three A4 sheets. The first two have 32 ideas for things that are likely to make you feel happy, be healthier, get things done and feel like you have accomplished something that day. I’ve cut them up, folded them and put them in a bowl in the kitchen so I can choose one a day, I might take it in turns with my son to choose one for both of us, or we might have one each. If I really don’t like one I’ll put it back and choose again.

You can play around with this yourself too, the third sheet in the printout has blank spaces for you to fill in your own ideas. You could pick one to do for a whole week if you prefer. I’ve only put a few decluttering tasks in but you can use this alongside the free printable decluttering calendar you get if you sign up to my mailing list.

My alternative to resolutions is in the kitchen in a large bowl.

Click here or on any of the pictures to get the printable alternatives to resolutions. It will fit A4 paper and should print well in black and white too.

Happiest of new years to everyone.

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